GateHub review: A payment platform and wallet

Gatehub is one of the major players in the cryptocurrency exchange industry. It allows users to trade and store their digital currency. The payment gateway allows users to make instant payments at an attractive cost.

Overview

What is Gatehub?

GateHub is a platform that serves a dual-role. It can either be a wallet or a payment gateway. At best, GateHub is a Ripple wallet, and can be called Ripple gatehub, with several other features that make it different than other online wallets. You can use it to send and receive money to and from your account. It is based in the UK and denies any affiliation with Ripple XRP although you can use XRP Ripple coins with it and then store it on the XRP wallet.

It is also a trading platform that allows you to trade a few coins that include Bitcoin, Ethereum (ETH), to name a few. The platform also allows you to make transactions using some of the mainstream fiat currencies such as the U.S. dollar and the Euro.

GateHub history

GateHub was established in 2014 and it is owned by GateHub Limited, a company based in the UK. GateHub was a victim of hack in August 2017 when $5 million cryptocurrencies were stolen from the cryptocurrency exchange platform. The company claimed that the data of its customers were not compromised but there were claims that some customers lost their wealth as a result of the hack.

How does it work?

You need to sign up and get an account before you can start using the cryptocurrency exchange platform. This should be expected as it is the norm with all other trading platforms and wallets.

After you sign up, you are given recovery key that you should use in case you ever forget your password. It can be described as a secret key as it’s only for your eyes. You are required to connect to a gateway before you can start sending and receiving money. Moreover, your wallet is de-activated until it has a balance of 20 XRP Ripple, which means you may have to buy Ripple XRP if you don’t have enough.

The GateHub interface is quite easy to use. The trade tab takes you to a trading window. The trading window is feature rich. It has all the elements that a professional trading exchange has. You are allowed to trade fiat currencies, digital asset, and metals such as gold. The trading pairs are quite flexible.

GateHub review

The platform requires you to identify yourself. You need your ID and proof of residence in order to successfully verify your identity. You are required to upload clear images. However, the verification process mainly applies to those who want to make bank transactions, such as deposits, withdrawals and bank transfers. The wallet has differences when it comes to transactions with fiat money and crypto currencies. You do not need to be fully verified if you want to send or receive cryptocurrencies. But bank transfers can only be made if you are fully verified.

Each gateway will have its own separate balance. The total balance of your wallet will be displayed in the wallet. You are able to send any currency that you don’t even have in your wallet. The exchange does all the required conversions for you automatically.

The security of the platform is not bad at all. You need to have a password before you can use the wallet. However, the platform could have done more to prompt you to input a strong password. Many platforms set a policy for the acceptable length and strings of your wallet. You can also enable two-factor authentication (2FA) so as to increase your wallet’s security levels. And two-factor authentication isn’t hard to set up.

You also have access to an Analytics page that you can use to check for visual statistics. This is very helpful as it gives you a hint of trending currency and digital asset pairs.

GateHub uses public servers that easily get overloaded which has resulted in longer clearing times for transactions.

There are a number of reasons why you can choose GateHub over other wallets or exchanges. The first one is its flexibility in sending currency pairs. You can send any digital currency pair that you want, something that not all exchanges and wallets allowed.

You are also free to send and receive crypto currencies even when you have yet to verified your wallet. Many online wallets require full verification before you can begin trading your cryptocurrencies. Gatehub is easy to use and its interface should allow any user to master it quickly.

GateHub benefits

Easy to use

Charges less trading fees, although this depends on the assets being traded

There is a good number of Altcoin that you can trade

GateHub provides a mobile app that you can download on your Android or iOS device

The platform accepts cash

GateHub cons

A minimum of 20 XRP tokens required before one can use the wallet, although some wallets are free to use

It is an online wallet. Online wallets are not entirely safe as they can be hacked anytime. Many people prefer to store their wealth in desktop or hardware wallets and only use online wallets for immediate transactions.

GateHub going forward

GateHub has been on the block for quite some time. This, on its own, should give them an advantage over other wallets. The recent security breach should have prompted them to up their security in order to avoid of a repeat.

On the flip side of the coin, they have a good user interface that should make it appealing to new users. The platform has a few things to fix but overall, GateHub is a good wallet/exchange that needs to only needs to address a couple of issues.

What's your reaction?

SUBSCRIBE TO STORIES

Ever since distributed ledger technology - or blockchain - debuted with the release of the world’s first cryptocurrency, bitcoin, in 2009, experts have believed that it is a perfect fit for a number of different industries ranging from banking to

From the news
Perhaps the news making the most headlines this week had to do with CoinBase e-Money license acquisition from UK’s FCA and the EU. With the license, it means CoinBase customers in the UK can make Faster Payment Scheme

Cryptocurrency and its blockchain technology has been around for a couple years now but it has just recently been thrust into the mainstream spotlight, and now, it's headed for space.
Blockchain and NASA
In late 2017, NASA awarded a three-year grant, worth